I'll be straight and just admit it. I have writer's block. To be honest, I'm waiting until the next heir is all grown and some new stuff can happen. So, while this chapter has like a million (28 ) pictures, the story is... eh. It really has nothing to wrap it up in the end and like I said before... eh. Of course these are my standards and I have no idea what you guys will think. I really hope you like it, though. Then I can maybe ease up on myself.
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Chapter 10Kat got out of bed reluctantly. No dreams. None at all. Of course, when she wanted a nightmare, she didn’t have one! She had been hoping for one for the last couple of days, but she didn’t dream at all except for one dream that involved Henry and waffles. That was hardly what she was looking for, though.
After breakfast, Henry left for work and Kat cleaned up the dishes. Suddenly, she heard a whirring and buzzing noise coming from the front room. She approached slowly, and opened the door. Inside the CleanBot was going berserk!
Sparks and smoke spewed from it as it spit out trash. Kat quickly grabbed its remote and pressed the power button. It continued to sputter out trash. She jabbed the button with her finger and when that didn’t work, started hitting it with her fist. The CleanBot continued to wreak havoc.
Heidi was staring at it in alarm, meowing and hissing.
Kat ran outside, hoping that Henry was still there. He built it; he should know how to turn it off!
Henry was unfortunately leaving in his carpool, completely oblivious.
Kat slammed the remote with her fist again, and then she hit it against the end table. The CleanBot halted and slowly made its way back to its little platform. When it did, Kat looked around at the wreckage. It was terrible! She gripped her head and groaned.
How would she possibly be able to clean it all up? Then, and idea struck her. Maybe not the brightest of ideas, but an idea none the less.
Kat got a screwdriver and very carefully started to fix the CleanBot, praying she wouldn’t be electrocuted.
She tightened a few random things until the sparking stopped. Very cautiously, she clicked the power button. The CleanBot made a strained grinding sort of sound before rolling over to vacuum up the trash it had spit out.
Kat had a satisfied smile on her face as she brushed her hands together and stepped out of the room. She vowed to remember to tell Henry to fix it properly as soon as he was home.
…
Felix was snuggled up in his crib, fast asleep.
Kat hovered around him, waiting for him to wake up and reach for her eagerly. Alas, he was still sleeping peacefully.
She sighed. Now that Felix had been taught how to talk, walk, and use his potty, she felt a little useless and bored. Maybe if she went back to work and hired a nanny for Felix she would feel better.
“Yes,” she murmured aloud, picking up Heidi and cuddling her. “I think I will hire a nanny.”
Then, feeling a little ridiculous, she said, “Heidi, do you think you can learn tricks?”
…
Henry came home from work and headed to his bedroom, expecting to collapse into bed next to Kat. The lights were still on in the room, though, and as he opened the door he heard Kat’s voice.
“Heidi, come here!” He looked in to find Kat pointing at the ground next to her, Heidi observing patiently.
Stifling his laughter, he watched. How ridiculous! A cat learning tricks? Whoever heard of such a thing?
Then, Heidi seemed to actually
nod and walk directly up to Kat. Henry gaped in astonishment.
“Good girl, Heidi!” Kat praised, patting her on the head.
“Did you teach her that?” Henry asked as he fully stepped into the room.
She smiled proudly. “Yup. I’ve been teaching her all night. She’s catching on very quickly!”
“You are some kind of woman,” Henry commented, pulling her into a passionate kiss. On the sidelines, Heidi grew bored and curled up into her bed, officially ending the training session.
Henry led Kat onto the bed.
He kissed her again and she melted into his arms, feeling like she did when they first kissed.
…
The nanny came the next morning Kat had to leave for work.
When Kat had talked with her on the phone, she had seemed friendly enough and had high regards from her other employers. Kat was perfectly comfortable leaving Felix with her while she and Henry went to work. When she came home, she found Henry had other feelings.
Kat walked into the house, feeling slightly tired but mostly relieved from being out and about at work. Henry was on the couch reading the paper.
“I thought you worked until six?” Henry briefly glanced up from the paper before turning back to it again.
“I do,” he answered quickly.
“Then why are you here now? At four?” Kat asked impatiently.
“Well,” he began, shrugging, “I figured I’d stay and give the nanny an evaluation of sorts.”
“And?” She crossed her arms, annoyed.
“And she did fine,” he grumbled.
“Well where is she now?”
“I sent her home about an hour ago.” Kat gripped the bridge of her nose. “I just don’t really think we should leave Felix with a nanny all this time that we’re away.” He watched Kat’s expression before continuing even further. “I was actually thinking maybe I should quit my job and stay home full time,” he offered.
“What?! We can’t afford for you to do that! We need the money!” She sighed and looked Henry straight in the eyes. “Look, if it makes you feel better, I can use some of my vacation days to stay home until his birthday. Then, he’ll be off at school all day and we won’t have to worry, okay?”
…
It was sunny and hot and Kat was enjoying a large ice cream cone with three scoops of strawberry ice cream piled precariously on top. The sun was melting the ice cream quickly. Thin, pink drips streaked the cone and her small hand. As she twisted her tongue around the top scoop, it and the second scoop slipped and spattered on the ground all over her feet. Tears started to sting her eyes and the third scoop dropped too. Her new purple shoes were spotted with pink.
A few sobs started to escape from her throat when suddenly her cone was snatched from her, and a new one with only one scoop of ice cream was given to her. A teenage boy bent over and wiped her shoes off with paper napkins. He stood up straight and looked down at her. His hair was brown with natural blonde highlights that shone in the sunlight. He had warm chocolate brown eyes to match.
“There you go, don’t cry,” he soothed. “You wouldn’t have been able to eat all that ice cream anyway.” He stretched his hand out for her to take. “Let’s go home, S.” Kat slowly awoke from her dream this time. Sunlight poured in from the window onto her face, blinding her a little, but mostly warming her. From her dream she remembered looking up at a friendly boy’s face…her brother’s face.
From that thought she shot up. She had a brother! Where was he now? She had to find him! Then she came to her senses.
Silly. She didn’t even know his name. How would she be able to find him if she had no information on him?
Kat pushed all thoughts of her brother aside. Today was Felix’s birthday. She was going to enjoy it for his sake.
After shoveling a bowl of cereal into her stomach, Kat jumped up to get ready for her carpool. Suddenly her stomach lurched and she gagged.
She managed to swallow and steady herself.
Kat recognized that feeling exactly. But, at hearing her carpool beeping impatiently outside, she knew she didn’t have time to analyze it more clearly.
…
Before Kat had a chance to mention her suspicions to Henry, Felix decided he wanted to grow up. She didn’t even have time to carry him to his birthday cake to blow out the candles.
Kat admired his big purple eyes, so similar to hers, and his curly brown locks, so similar to… her brother’s. The thought made her feel a little wistful, but she shook it off. Now was not the time to ponder her past life.
“I wanna play this one! We can all play,” Felix insisted, pointing to the Mishuno game. It was basically Bingo, but a bit more complicated.
Henry and she smiled at each other. “Well, sure, Kiddo,” Henry answered, picking up a Mishuno block for himself.
“I’m gonna call,” Felix announced eagerly. Kat grabbed her own Mishuno block, trying to ignore the nausea waves churning in her stomach.
Aside from the nausea, Kat was enjoying herself, so was everyone else actually. Kat was in the lead in Mishuno, and while Felix wasn’t really playing, he was enjoying Henry and Kat’s bickering.
“Hey! You’re cheating!” Henry accused, looking pointedly at Kat’s block. She stuck her tongue out at him.
“I am not!”
“Yes, you are! Felix never called that square,” Henry said, pointing to a little symbol that looked like a fish.
“He did. You just weren’t paying attention. Besides,” she added, “I don’t need to cheat to beat you.” Henry laughed and kissed her cheek.
All of a sudden, she couldn’t take it anymore. Kat dropped her block and ran to the bathroom. Henry watched in puzzlement as she went.
Dropping to her knees, she upchucked in the toilet.
She rose slightly, but before she could even flush, she threw up again.
She started to scrub the toilet as best as she could before Felix needed the bathroom and found the mess.
“Are you okay?” Henry asked, peeking in through the doorway. Seeing the toilet he added, “Are you sick?”
Kat shook her head. “No. I’m not sick per se… I’ll explain to you later, okay?”
Henry nodded before receding back into Felix’s room. Kat followed shortly after, grateful when she saw Henry and Felix dancing to some song on the radio.
It was good he was keeping Felix occupied.
“Maybe I’ll call during this round of Mishuno, huh?”
“You’re terrible at this, Henry!” Kat exclaimed, laughing after he had lost again, that time to Felix.
“Pssh. You both cheat,” he claimed, shrugging it off. Felix was beaming as he watched the exchange.
“Mm-hm. Well, I’m going to bed. You two can continue your fun, but I’m beat.” Kat gave a farewell kiss to both of her favorite people. Then, she receded into her bedroom to sleep, while Henry made sure Felix enjoyed the rest of the night.
~
